We Are All Made of Stars at bstewart23

We Are All Made of Stars

16Jun08

The scientists, from Europe and the USA, say that their research, published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, provides evidence that life’s raw materials came from sources beyond the Earth.

The materials they have found include the molecules uracil and xanthine, which are precursors to the molecules that make up DNA and RNA, and are known as nucleobases.

The team discovered the molecules in rock fragments of the Murchison meteorite, which crashed in Australia in 1969.

[...]

Lead author Dr Zita Martins, of the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, says that the research may provide another piece of evidence explaining the evolution of early life. She says:

“We believe early life may have adopted nucleobases from meteoritic fragments for use in genetic coding which enabled them to pass on their successful features to subsequent generations.”

Between 3.8 to 4.5 billion years ago large numbers of rocks similar to the Murchison meteorite rained down on Earth at the time when primitive life was forming. The heavy bombardment would have dropped large amounts of meteorite material to the surface on planets like Earth and Mars.

Co-author Professor Mark Sephton, also of Imperial’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering, believes this research is an important step in understanding how early life might have evolved. He added:

“Because meteorites represent left over materials from the formation of the solar system, the key components for life — including nucleobases — could be widespread in the cosmos. As more and more of life’s raw materials are discovered in objects from space, the possibility of life springing forth wherever the right chemistry is present becomes more likely.”

Science rules.

Filed under: Bliss, War on Science, What Time Is It? |

10 Responses to “We Are All Made of Stars”

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1 Carol Elaine on Jun 16th, 2008 said:

Or, as I like to steal, “Science. It works, bitches.”

The absolute coolness of this knows no bounds.
2 eldon on Jun 16th, 2008 said:

they discovered this in 1969 and we’re hearing it (FROM YOU!) just now?

outrageous.

e
3 Sami on Jun 16th, 2008 said:

~~It’s all about Australia. Australia is just more awesome than anywhere else~~ It’s a pretty awesome find. I’m not sure it actually changes rather than confirms my preconceptions about the origins of life, though, which suddenly seems very weird to me. I should work out where my preconceptions came from.

Of course, if the critical materials for the formation of life derive from meteorites, then presumably they’re core-material type stuff, from a planetary perspective, or there’d be no reason for it to have to come from space; it’d just be there. It simultaneously makes the existence of life more likely in general, given that it exists in this form, and the existence of life in this form at all even more strange and wonderful.

The universe rules.
4 tuckova on Jun 17th, 2008 said:

In other science news, you have a well-balanced brain.
5 NPD on Jun 17th, 2008 said:

Science does indeed rule. Though I don’t know what’s cooler: that these compounds appeared on Earth independently, or did come to us via meteorites.

The former means that proto-life chemistry could be very common in the Solar system (and, why not, the galaxy) if they show up here and in space. Is there complex chemistry going on on Mars, Venus (once upon a time), maybe Jupiter or Saturn or some of their moons?

The latter means that, if there’s life out there, we’re sorta related, however distantly. I can’t wait to go visit cousin ℑ℘∗≈ on Europa!
6 Kerstin on Jun 17th, 2008 said:

All this beauty, wonder and mystery right before our eyes, and people still feel the need to make up silly fairy tales that they can build cathedrals to?
7 Carol Elaine on Jun 17th, 2008 said:

Well, cathedrals are pretty too. And you can touch a cathedral!
8 cb on Jun 17th, 2008 said:

So, um… I take it God put the stuff on the meteorites then??
9 Carol Elaine on Jun 17th, 2008 said:

Yep, that He did, cb. Then He made the stuff on the meteorites appear older than 6,000 years so that humans would be fooled about the True Age of the Universe. I forget why He did that, though.

Or something like that.
10 Sami on Jun 18th, 2008 said:

Watch the token Christian wince.

Seriously, rationality and comprehension of science are not incompatible with religious faith. The Bible does not say that the universe is six thousand years old. A problematically overliteral interpretation does, but since the Bible is rife with metaphor and literary devices wherein complex concepts are expressed in simple terms for the benefit of uneducated nomads, not to put too fine a point on it, sensible people do not take the Bible literally. (And no-one at all ACTUALLY takes the Bible literally, start to finish, even if they claim they do. See the much-mocked proscriptions in Leviticus on things like mixed-fibre clothing.)

I’m really not comfortable with going into the explanations, though - I just sort of want to remind you that, no, intelligent Christians who also believe in science do exist. If nothing else, religion is rewarding, fulfilling, soul-satisfying and all that, but physics is just plain sexy.